Apparatus for producing air-borne particles of insecticide



Jan. 2, 1951 w. A. SIMANTON 2,535,231

' APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING AIR-BORNE PARTICLES OF INSECTICIDE Filed Jan. 11 1945 zlvwo/wfo o w. 1a. SIMANTON Patented Jan. 2, 1951 APPARATUS FOR PRODUCIN AIR-BOBNE PARTICLES OF INSEC ICIDE William A. Simanton, O'Hara Township, Allegheny County, Pa., assiznor to Gulf Research 8; Development Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Application January 11, 1945, Serial), 572,332 2 Claims. (Cl. 299-95) 1 The invention relates to an apparatus for producing air borne particles of insecticide.

A variet of insecticide materials have hereto,- iore been marketed which are disseminated by means of a liquid carrier, suchas kerosene. These materials have ordinarily been distributed in the air, by means of a hand sprayer or some similar device. The object of spraying the material is tocause the particles of insecticide to be suspended in the air for a period of time.

In order to 'better distribute the insecticide and to keep it suspended for a longer period of time, there has been more recently devised a method for distributing insecticide in which a low boiling liquid, such as dichlorodifiuoromethane is used as the propellant for the insecticide and y this material, when released from a vessel, evaporates instantly and disseminates the insecticide it carries into the air.

, Apparatus for containing and dispensing this lowboiling liquid insecticide have been devised, but these devices have many undesirable features. Many are unnecessarily complicated, thus making them expensive. Others are not devised to be easily refilled, which is an important factor in such a dispenser, while others have failed to deliver the insecticide material in a sufllciently finely divided form. In all of these the character of the spray and the delivery of precise quantitles of liquid have not beeii easily and simply controlled.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide an apparatus, with a minimum of complication, for containing and dispensing air borne particles of insecticide efilciently.

;A nother object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for the purpose which can be reused and easily emptied and refilled. These and other objects are attained by this invention which comprises a high pressure conta'iner having amxed therein a spring biased plunger valve and operating means including a restricted forifice designed to properly distribute the insecticide.

Other and further advantages of the invention will be manifest from the following description and drawings wherein the single figure is a view. partly in sectiomof an insecticide container including valve mechanism and operatin means.

Referring to the drawing, there is shown an insecticide container having an upper cup-like por; tion I I and a lower portion preferably heat brazed together to form the complete container. upper portion ll of the container has an ainxed cylinder I 5 in which is inserted a tube through whia'i theliquid in thecontainers enters to pass up the tu 2 The upper end of cylinder II is threaded both on the inside and the outside, the inside threading being adapted to receive a spring biased plunger ,valve ll. This valve may be one of several types of pressure valves, having a spring biased plunger such as the type ordinarily used on automobile tires and illustrated, for example, in U. S. Patent 2,048,843 to John C. Crowley. This type valve allows the container to be filled under pressure and emptied by pressing down on the valve stem. The cylinder may be held in place on the container by furnace brazing. A gasket, preferably of asbestos which has been impregnated with graphite, acts as a liquid seal. The upper portion ll of the container contains a plug 2| of an easily fusible metal which acts as a safety valve and melts at a temperature below the temperature at which there would be danger of the container exploding.

Aillxed to the top of the container by means of the outer threads on cylinder i5 is a block 22 which is adapted to seal the container while in shipment, to contain the device which operates the valve plunger and to direct the fiow of the escaping fluid. The block contains an inside 1 threaded cavity 23 which is adapted to be screwed on to cylinder I! so as to'seal the valve from any accidental opening during shipment or periods when the container is not in use. In the block illustrated, there is shown a plunger rod 3| the lower end of which has an elongated pinlike rod which is adapted to contact and press down the valve plunger when the plunger rod is depressed. Immediately below the cavity wherein the plunger rod operates, is a somewhat :larger cavity at the top of which is a flexible gasket 21 or other sealing device, preferably of rubber to prevent leakage of the fiuid under pressure around the plunger rod. Immediately below the gasket 21 is a fiber pad 28, preferably of porous cotton :ielt, which is adapted to filter out any dirtor rust particles and to slow down the fiow ofthe fluid from the container, so that a comparatively large easily drilled orifice 28 may be used.

It will be noted that the plunger rod is formed with a conical surface between its main body portion and the elongated pin-like portion and is thus designed to prevent leakage through the hole ingasket 21 when the plunger rod is in po-' sltion for releasing the insecticide.

The Y The plunger rod preferably has an enlarged head as shown and is adapted to be depressed by hand and returned to its uppermost position by a coil spring 32. The movement of plunger 3| is limiteduby slot- 33 therein, which operates against a' pin 84 passing through the block 2!.

The container may be refilled by removing block 22 and connecting a hose or pipe from a supply of the insecticide solution to the outer threads of the cylinder 15, while simultaneously pressing down on the plunger of valve I8 in a manner very similar to the way in which a pneumatic tire is filled with air. After filling, the block 22 can be replaced either in the position illustrated or by placing the threaded cavity 23 over the valve to prevent leakage or accidental discharge in storage and shipment.

It will be seen that it is most desirable to keep the container in an upright position, particularly when it is almost empty, so that the fluid emitted will contain a large proportion of liquid. As previously mentioned, the block 22 may be unscrewed and used as a seal instead of. a releasing device. Because of the oil-center location of the threaded caviti:s, removal of the block is facilitated by its handle-like laterally projecting portion which allows leverage to be applied in removing it.

While it will be understood that this device may be used for various materials, it is particularly adapted to contain and dispense fluid capable of producing air borne particles of insecticide. These particles may be so distributed in the atmosphere as to remain in suspension for 20 minutes or more. For this purpose, the insecticide is dissolved in a carrier which is a low boiling liquid (a gas at atmospheric pressure and room temperature). For this purpose, it has been found desirable to use dichlorodifiurlromethane (Freon 12), which expands approximately 240 times its liquid volume upon release. Other suitable propellants may be selected from the field of low boiling liquids, as, for example, 7

methyl chloride. The active ingredient of the insecticide may be pyrethrum and sesame oil may be used along with it.

The design of the apparatus illustrated is particularly useful for spraying insecticide into rooms or small chambers, such as airplane cabins or freight cars. By changing the dimensions of the orifice, changing the pressure on the fluid, etc., the device may be adapted to spraying insecticide into large chambers, such as auditoriums, restaurants, etc. Furthermore, the device may be used for spraying materials other than insecticides, as for example window cleaner, particularly for automobile windows, for sprayin: thin coating materials, etc.

Thus I have described a new and useful apparatus adapted to contain and dispense a liq-' uid capable of producing air borne particles of insecticide in an efiicient manner.

What I claim is:

1. In a dispenser for air borne particles by dis-, charge of fluid under pressure from a container having an eduction tube projecting therefrom and a unitary spring biased plunger valve and seat mounted in the eduction tube, the combination therewith of a dispensing cap fitted to the projecting end of the eduction tube, a chamber therein into which said eduction tube discharges 4 in a pin projecting through said diaphragm and penetrating said fluid permeable material in alignment with the plunger of said spring biased valve, said pin joining said stem portion in a conically tapered portion immediately above said flexible diaphragm, whereby the opening therein through which said pin projects will be kept plugged as it expands under flexure of the diaphragm, a rectangular slot in said stem portion, a detent carried by said cap to extend into said slot, a finger piece on the outer end of said stem portion, and a spring mounted between said finger piece and outer surface of said cap for holding the stem portion retracted.

2. In a dispenser for air borne particles by discharge of fiuid under pressure from a container having an eduction tube projecting therefrom and a unitary spring biased plunger valve and seat mounted in theeduction tube, the combination therewith of a cap for the eduction tube comprising an elongated handle member adapted to be grasped by a user in applying and removing the cap, said handle member having a bore of stepped diameter extending therethrough adjacent one end thereof and defining an internal shoulder, a flexible sealing diaphragm abutting maintains a seal as the stem is depressed and the gasket is caused to flex with consequent enlargement of the opening therein for the pin, an orifice in the end of said handle member communicating with the larger portion of the bore therein, and a plug of compressible filtering material within the larger portion of the bore and covering said orifice, the said projecting pin portion of said stem penetrating the filtering material and extending into proximity to the plunger of the spring biased valve, whereby upon depression of said stem the valve is caused to open for releasing the contents of the container.

WILLIAM A. SIMIANTON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of recordin th file of this patent:

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